Belgian developer Atenor is starting its latest large-scale project, Aréna Business Campus which is located in the 8th district of Budapest. The real estate developer, listed on Euronext Brussels, bought the 19,000 square meters site under 30 Hungária Boulevard last September, on which a Class A+ office complex of nearly 72,000 square meters will be built.

With the signing of share purchase agreements, Immofinanz AG has purchased 19,499,437 bearer shares (representing an investment of 29.14%) of S Immo AG from member companies of the RPR Group (approx. 14.6 million shares) and the SIGNA Group (approx. 4.9 million shares). The transaction is subject to various conditions precedent, in particular, the approval of the antitrust authorities in Austria, Germany and other jurisdictions. The Supervisory Board of Immofinanz approved the purchase today.

Panattoni Europe will develop its third manufacturing facility for Ideal Automotive. This time, the factory will be built in Świdnica, at the Wałbrzych Special Economic Zone Invest-Park, and will take up approx. 27,400 sqm. Construction works will commence as early as this April, and are scheduled for completion in Q4 of this year. The lease was mediated by the advisory firm Colliers International.

Zeitgeist Asset Management, a company specializing in property development and asset management services for private and institutional investors, has expanded its portfolio by the acquisition of a new property for a German pension fund, administered by Institutional Investment Partners. The residential project is located in downtown Budapest.

Large sums are expected to be invested in property again by institutional investors worldwide in 2018. Based on its “Investment Intentions Survey 2018”, INREV expects around €51.1 billion to be invested in property this year. The largest share of this €51 billion will go to Europe (around 41.2 percent), followed by the USA (31.7 percent). The Asia-Pacific region (17.4 percent) is in third place.

Vaclav Jonas has been appointed Managing Director of the Prague office and is thus responsible for all asset and property management activities of CA Immo in the Czech Republic, including tenant support and retention. Vaclav Jonas will be supported by Jan Baxa, who took over the role of Head of Asset Management in the Czech Republic from April 2018, and Radek Poulicek, who joined the company as a Leasing Manager in March 2018.

The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) and Postbank (Bulgaria) will jointly provide €58.3 million (€32 million and €26.3 million, respectively) to help finance the construction of a Marriott hotel in Sofia, the first hotel of the international chain in Bulgaria. The 12-year loan will be extended to I Tower Development JSC, a special-purpose company set-up in Bulgaria. BSTDB acted as arranger of the deal. The operation aims at meeting the growing demand for high-quality business and tourist accommodation and conference facilities in the Bulgarian capital.

With consumer habits changing rapidly and technology reshaping the entire real estate industry, the only way for shopping centres to stay in the race is to innovate. Ingo Nissen, Sonae Sierra’s Managing Director for Romania talked about the future of retail and the Romanian retail market in particular.

Decathlon, the world's largest sports retailer, is now entering Serbia. Partnering with BIG CEE group, the retailer plans to open its first store in Q2 2019 at Big Fashion Park Belgrade.